Thursday, August 23, 2012

Guest Post and Giveaway: Temptation by Karen Ann Hopkins

We
met and fell in love in the sleepy farming community of Meadowview,
while we rode our horses together through the grassy fields and in those
moments in each other's arms.

It should be

ROSE & NOAH

forever, easy.

But it won't be.

Because he's Amish.And I'm not.

Temptation, the debut novel by Karen Ann Hopkins is available now from Harlequin Teen. I am pleased to host Karen on my blog today as she shares her experiences and impressions of the Amish youth. She used her own experiences in living with the Amish community for the basis of her story of Rose and Noah.

Welcome Karen Ann Hopkins!!

When
I moved to Mays Lick, Kentucky four years ago, I had no idea that my
life was about to drastically change. Like most other people, I’d seen
Amish occasionally. I knew the basics, such as the culture’s choice of
living electric and motor vehicle free. What I didn’t realize was that I
would become immersed in the primitive culture. Within days of moving
to our new farm, a steady-stream of Amish teens arrived to welcome me
and my five children to the neighborhood. The Amish adults were
friendly too, but the younger members of the community were the ones who
really made us feel at home. The bond that tied us all together was
the horses. I’d brought twenty-one of them with me from the riding
lesson business I owned in Tennessee and the neighborhood kids were
anxious to observe and eventually learn a more disciplined form of
horse-back riding from the bare-back escapades they were used to.

It
didn’t take long for me to notice the interesting dynamics going on
between the Amish kids and the non-Amish ones who rode at the farm.
Along with some obvious flirting, there were also late night visits
from Amish teens who simply wanted to watch a movie on my TV or play
video games with my kids. Eventually,
the community elders restricted the amount of time that the teens could
spend at the farm. The adults were worried that their children were
interacting too much time with Englishers (that’s what the Amish call
anyone who isn’t Amish) and the group gatherings in the arena were
against the already established rules. You see, the Amish youth don’t
enjoy the freedom of assembly that we all take for granted. They are
only allowed to gather for church services and organized Amish events.

Most
Amish youth go through a state of rebellion where they question of
whether they will remain Amish is decided. This self-discovery time is
called rumspringa. Not
all communities allow the young people to practice this tradition
though, and my own community is of the stricter societies. The
Amish teens surrounding my farm have two choices. They can either
follow their community’s rules, or sneak around. A fair amount of the
kids choose the later and suffer the consequences when caught. The
punishment for watching a movie, playing a video game, taking pictures,
or using a cell phone can be severe, so the art of sneaking is a
required skill for every Amish teen.Time
is a major factor that limits the trouble most of the teens get into. There is just too little of it. Upon graduation from school at the
end of the eighth grade, a typical boy will go straight into the work
force, either employed by a family business such as building, welding or
farming or they’ll work for another family in the community. The girls
might take an outside job, but many stay home to help care for their
younger siblings and the household. The ones that do work outside the
home, might take a job at the community butcher shop, bakery, or do
babysitting or house-cleaning for their non-Amish neighbors. Most of
the teens who earn an income will subsequently pay their parents
approximately ninety percent of that income. The remainder of their
earnings is spent of personal items or saved for their future married
lives. The teens will continue to pay a large portion of their earnings
to their parents until they turn twenty years old or when they
themselves are ready to marry, which is usually between eighteen and
twenty-one years of age.

Even
though the teens work forty hour work weeks, they also have daily
chores to do at their homes. These tasks include farm work, child care,
cleaning and laundry. You’d think with that kind of schedule, they’d
have no energy for fun, but they still do. Each week they participate
in an organized youth activity, which is held at community member’s
home. Singing hymns and eating a basic meal are normal for the
gatherings. Following fellowship, volley ball nets are raised or a
softball game begins. The youth are well supervised and there is little
mingling between the girls and the boys at these gatherings, but the
teens still look forward to the time to relax and have some fun. In
my own community, I’ve watched a group of teens go through the
rebellious period, begin courting, get married and have babies, all in
the course of four years. The seasons of life move quicker in the quiet
country landscape of the Plain people than they do in the outside
world. But for all the negatives that non-Amish people might perceive
with the culture, the Amish themselves appear happy and content. And
in the end, that’s all that matters.

Thanks
Karen for sharing this. It's good to know more about what inspired your
story, especially when it involves a community that I know almost
nothing about. I will be reviewing Temptation on the blog next week, but until I am hosting a giveaway for a copy of Temptations for one of my readers.

Giveaway Rules Must be at least 16 yrs or older Open to U.S. address only Following is NOT required Fill out the form below one entry per person